Potentially Dead Laptop Drive? Revivable? Data?

Hi everyone, Im really sorry if this is on the wrong forum and the possible long read...

I had an HP laptop with Windows 7 for 2 years. About a couple weeks ago, I closed the screen and it went to sleep mode for the night, the next morning when I tried to start it, it was stuck on that back screen. I tried pulling battery, unplug replug harddrive, ram, and it was still stuck there. Figuring it was motherboard issue (Though it powers the fan and wireless lights)

I bought a new Acer laptop instead a week ago. It runs Windows 7 as well. Figuring Id just move my old data from the hard drive, I unplugged it and put it into a sata dock to transfer over from usb. However, it did not detect the hard drive (very important data). I tried 2 other old laptop drives and they can be read like any external, but the one from my HP cannot. Im getting worried....

So I looked around and I got to the point where I am in "disk management", I can see the HP hard drive (connect through dock usb) as Disk 1 Dynamic Invalid.

I dont know what else to do, I found that part through browsing hours online and used the advice here to get to that point.
Apparently, its a good sign as it is still working or being detected?

Im starting to think its not my motherboard, but the HP harddrive itself (either WIN 7 boot files error or its dead???) I dont think its dead as it can stil be detected through "disk management" on my Acer...

Please, any kind advice from the gurus here and possibly guide me in the right direction?
I really need my data from my HP as I have client documents there...

Don't you believe in keeping backups (not simply copies on the same media)? If not, this could be a very expensive lesson as to why you should. If the disk is unreadable, your options are:
1. make do without the lost files;
2. ask the clients for replacement copies (but that still leaves you without your own files); or
3. pay a data-recovery firm to retrieve the data for you.

Yes Im trying to see if there is any alternative before spending the money. Do you know how I am able to still read the old HP hard drive? I read something about Win 7 premium will be able to bypass the "invalid" aspect of the hard drive in the diskmanagement module... Again, thank you for your help

Found this via a google search. Have never tried it so I can't vouch for the procedure. Use at your own risk, but if you have no other alternatives, it might be worth a shot.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQgRkEuFQac

Figuring Id just move my old data from the hard drive, I unplugged it and put it into a sata dock to transfer over from usb. However, it did not detect the hard drive (very important data). I tried 2 other old laptop drives and they can be read like any external, but the one from my HP cannot.

Sometimes there is some circuitry attached to the hard drive so that it can plug into the connector on the laptop; the reason is because the hard drive type doesn't match the laptop's connector type. If there is some circuitry like that, you might try removing it, and then using something else to make the conversion so that you can connect it to the other laptop. The reason I suggest this is because maybe the conversion circuitry connected to the hard drive has gone bad.

Also, have you tried connecting the hard drive in question directly to the other laptop? Not using the USB device that you have mentioned, but rather to the hard drive port on the laptop. If there is only one hard drive port, you might try removing the hard drive that is already installed on the other laptop, and then connecting the "bad" hard drive in its place. (Be sure to unplug the laptop and remove the battery, then wait a minute or two, before doing this.) There will be Windows issues when you boot with the "bad" hard drive, but at least you might be able to get into Windows and access the data. If you can't get into Windows the regular way, try going into Safe Mode.